Group exhibition featuring paintings by L. Kelly Lyles, Jason Puccinelli, Curtis Taylor, Chris Thompson, Randy McCoy, Stina Coto, Sara Lehl, Jennifer McNeely, Ron Richardson, Jennifer Lundgren, Leiv Fagereng, Diana Cardiff, Meghan Trainor, Libby Knudson, Cassandria Blackmore, Rich Lehl, Jacques Ropert, Keven Furiya, J. Graham Ross and Steve Gentis.

Curated by Greg Lundgren

There stands a great divide between the local arts community and the patrons capable of fiscally supporting it. As an independent, progressive and risk taking arts organization, we had little difficulty drawing hundreds of artists and young arts enthusiasts. But we had no fiddle to draw the wealthy from their insulated neighborhood and polished institutions to our exciting incubator of young talent and questioning format. History reveals that portraiture had been an artists staple for hundreds of years (until that damned camera came along), so we thought we would give it another walk in the park, just to see what happened.

Twenty five of the pet owners made it opening night, with groomed and polite canines in tow. We landed the cover of the local newspaper, the Journal American. We had a mariachi band sing in the corner and served hundreds of shots of tequila. There was a minor fiasco involving the weiner dog daisy chain, and we didn't make a fortune, but it was one of the strangest and most interesting mixes of people I had ever seen. The Dogs of Medina may not have bridged the great divide between the wealthy and the progressive artist, but for a moment it made everyone smile, and wonder what the hell they were doing, and that is as much as we ever ask for.